Data hiding in encrypted images using arnold transform

Digital image steganography has several applications in information security and communication. Data hiding in encrypted images ensure that both the cover image and the secret message can be recovered at the receiver end. This work presents a novel data hiding and image encryption scheme using random diffusion and Two dimensional Arnold cat mapping transform. The secret message bits are placed in the least significant bit positions of the cover image. Then a shared key is used to generate random 8 bit random integer stream and is added to the stego image in the random diffusion step. Arnold cat mapping transformation is done to scramble the pixels. The two steps of random diffusion and Arnold transform mapping are done alternatively several times to completely encrypt the image contents. The process is reversed at the receiver end to get both the secret message and the cover image with little loss. The random diffusion step overcomes the limited period of the Arnold transform. The embedding capacity of one bit per pixel is achieved. Security analysis is carried out which shows that the encryption is highly secure. The number of collisions is low thus preventing brute force attacks. The original cover image is recoverable with minimal losses.